Predictable and fun. Strong female lead. Great intro for YA SciFi.
Delightfully creepy. Beautiful writing. Engaging protagonist. Unpredictable plot. Fun #audiobook experience.
Still not a Diana fan. Thoroughly enjoyed the historical aspects of the novel as well as the other characters. Was constantly annoyed by repeated (often grammatically nebulous) phrases and descriptions.
Hardly made a dent in my TBR for May. Still only 85% through A Discovery of Witches. Not impressed with the main character, but really enjoying the universe being created, the vampire mythology in particular.
Definitely a good audiobook choice. Fascinating and heartbreaking and such an important story to know.
I am so in love with Hoopla for allowing me to have this experience.
Letters about books! Historical fiction about a little discussed Occupation location. Characters you want to visit. Chapters I cried through — both for joy and bitter sadness. Epistolary novels make me happy, but epistolary novels about literature make me positively swoon. Literature and so much more. I‘m ready to plan my trip to see it all for myself!
Super fun read for those of us steeped in vampire tropes. Giving new life to Varney and Ruthven and reimagining the Van Helsing was exceedingly brilliant. Some frustration with verisimilitude. Truly am enjoying the alternative universe being created and look forward to the second book.
“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.”
I struggling with starting this read because there were too many characters in a short amount of time, so I could not keep them straight. Reading along with the audio book is the most. Enjoyable read I‘ve had in a very long time.
I‘m loving the universe created for this novel. I have some complaints about plot and the protagonist, but the way the supernatural world is constructed is both compelling and intriguing.
Loved the historical feel of this novel. Loved all the various interpretations of “poison.” Loved the intricacies of a triple narrative.
Frustrated with the characters struggling over the cause of Birdie‘s illness and that the author seemed ambivalent that the reader would understand the cause. While the narrative flowed well, the idea that Birdie was keeping all that from us is disingenuous, mad capped ghost in the machine ending.
Fun universe. Painful red herring. Struggling with the believability of the main character, but I don‘t dislike her. Lots and lots of threads dropped for future plot lines which was both intriguing as well as annoying.
Historical female vampire fiction? Yes, please! Though somewhat uneven in plot and character arc, an overall fun read with interesting characters and appreciated historical accuracies. Excellent descriptive narration, but keep your French dictionary handy.
Historical fiction of any guise is usually a first choice for me, as is vampire fiction. Looking forward to finishing out my winter break by starting this one.
I‘m a fan of Steampunk, but not necessarily mystery and rarely romance, so this novel was destined not to be my cup of tea. I enjoyed the medical aspect and plot points of the novel that puts it in its own niche. Enough smattering of Victorian garb keep it somewhat historically enjoyable. The mystery outcome was predictable, although the journey there was unique enough to make it worth reading. Likable characters and a quick-paced adventure.
Christmas Day read compliments of my bestie who attended #Hallowreads. Personalized and signed, even!
Nothing better than an October morning spent reading. #ImpossibleReads
Beautiful read with interesting balanced gendered narrative that touches on body image and cultural identity with tons of awesome music references!